History Trivia / RaiseTheTitanic

** The film wasn't the only flop producer Lew Grade had at the time, but it was the biggest, and its failure pretty much ended his career as a movie producer; the other one was Music/TheVillagePeople's ''Film/CantStopTheMusic'', produced by EMI the record company, which had been trying to break into movie making much like Grade (to the point that they had formed a joint venture called Associated Film Distribution for American releasing); both the movies flopped so bad (in ''Music'''s case, because of the [[DiscoSucks anti-disco backlash]] taking place in the US at the time), Grade and EMI's film divisions, and by extension, AFD all sunk, with the remaining backlog of releases sold to Universal (who would, of course, acquire ITC's shell by the late 90s, while the EMI library, via Cannon, ended up with [=StudioCanal=], and hence Universal distributes those as well). This film also acted as the iceberg for the maiden voyage of director Jerry Jameson as far as tentpole films are concerned; he stayed on television for the rest of the 20th century and all future theatrical films directed by him have small budgets. [[note]] The next film based off a Cussler novel, ''[[Film/Sahara2005 Sahara]]'', would also be a CreatorKiller for that film's director, Breck Eisner (son of Michael Eisner, who was chief of Paramount when ''Raise the Titanic'' was released, moved to Disney just before the real ''Titanic'' was discovered, and left around ''Sahara's'' release; ''Sahara'' was distributed by Paramount), though he bounced back a bit. [[/note]]

* TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment: The film was complete in 1978 but not released for two years.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: When the novel was written, raising the ship probably did seem like the only feasible means of recovering its contents. Later advances in [=ROV=] design and control means it'd be much easier and cheaper to salvage the byzanium from the wreckage without otherwise disturbing the site.

** The real trouble was with the script. The first draft, by Eric Hughes, was a pretty straightforward translation of Cussler's novel. Unfortunately, Grade felt it was far too long and wanted something with more appeal to family audiences, and so hired someone else to rewrite it... several times. Ultimately 17 writers worked on the screenplay, and all of them except for Larry [=McMurtry=], who disliked the novel to begin with, petitioned the Writers' Guild for credit on the released film (credit was given to Hughes and Adam Kennedy, the latter of whom was mostly responsible for the final draft). Between the writing clusterfuck and the efforts to find a ship that could be dressed to look like the ''Titanic'', $15 million (an amount that could have paid for a few modestly budgeted films at the time) had been spent without shooting a single frame.
** It didn't help that they didn't have a cast after Elliott Gould turned down the part of Pitt. Eventually an all-star cast including Jason Robards and Creator/AlecGuinness was hired at yet more considerable expense.
** The film had to deliver on its title promise, and in order to do so a 50-foot (15-meter) model of the ''Titanic'' was built. It turned out to be too large for any existing water tank, so a special 10-million-gallon "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_tank horizon tank]]"[[note]]one of the film's few positive legacies, in concept anyway[[/note]] was built off the coast of Malta. As if they hadn't already spent enough money they never expected to, it took ''50'' takes to get the shot of the ship rising they way they wanted it.

* UnderageCasting: Downplayed example. The then-64 year old Creator/AlecGuinness plays a surviving ''Titanic'' crew member, who would have been well into his 80s (at least) by then.

* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/JasonRobards admitted to doing the movie because of ""money, m'dear, money... We're all incidental to the hardware and the special effects on this one."

* PlayingGertrude: The then-64 year old Creator/AlecGuinness plays a surviving ''Titanic'' crew member, who would have been well into his 80s (at least) by then.

** Thus finished, the film [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment sat on the shelf for two years]]. Its 1980 release made just barely $7 million, nowhere near the final budget of $40 million (again, almost astronomical for the time) and video rentals weren't much help.

* CreatorBacklash: As Lew Grade said of the film's dismal performance, "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic".

** The film wasn't the only flop producer Lew Grade had at the time, but it was the biggest, and its failure pretty much ended his career as a movie producer; the other one was Music/TheVillagePeople's ''Film/CantStopTheMusic'', produced by EMI the record company, which had been trying to break into movie making much like Grade (to the point that they had formed a joint venture called Associated Film Distribution for American releasing); both the movies flopped so bad (in ''Music'''s case, because of the [[DeaderThanDisco anti-disco backlash]] taking place in the US at the time), Grade and EMI's film divisions, and by extension, AFD all sunk, with the remaining backlog of releases sold to Universal (who would, of course, acquire ITC's shell by the late 90s, while the EMI library, via Cannon, ended up with [=StudioCanal=], and hence Universal distributes those as well). This film also acted as the iceberg for the maiden voyage of director Jerry Jameson as far as tentpole films are concerned; he stayed on television for the rest of the 20th century and all future theatrical films directed by him have small budgets. [[note]] The next film based off a Cussler novel, ''[[Film/Sahara2005 Sahara]]'', would also be a CreatorKiller for that film's director, Breck Eisner (son of Michael Eisner, who was chief of Paramount when ''Raise the Titanic'' was released, moved to Disney just before the real ''Titanic'' was discovered, and left around ''Sahara's'' release; ''Sahara'' was distributed by Paramount), though he bounced back a bit. [[/note]]

** The film wasn't the only flop producer Lew Grade had at the time, but it was the biggest, and its failure pretty much ended his career as a movie producer; the other one was [[Music/TheVillagePeople The Village People's]] ''Can't Stop the Music'', produced by EMI the record company, which had been trying to break into movie making much like Grade (to the point that they had formed a joint venture called Associated Film Distribution for American releasing); both the movies flopped so bad (in ''Music'''s case, because of the [[DeaderThanDisco anti-disco backlash]] taking place in the US at the time), Grade and EMI's film divisions, and by extension, AFD all sunk, with the remaining backlog of releases sold to Universal (who would, of course, acquire ITC's shell by the late 90s, while the EMI library, via Cannon, ended up with [=StudioCanal=], and hence Universal distributes those as well). This film also acted as the iceberg for the maiden voyage of director Jerry Jameson as far as tentpole films are concerned; he stayed on television for the rest of the 20th century and all future theatrical films directed by him have small budgets. [[note]] The next film based off a Cussler novel, ''[[Film/Sahara2005 Sahara]]'', would also be a CreatorKiller for that film's director, Breck Eisner (son of Michael Eisner, who was chief of Paramount when ''Raise the Titanic'' was released, moved to Disney just before the real ''Titanic'' was discovered, and left around ''Sahara's'' release; ''Sahara'' was distributed by Paramount), though he bounced back a bit. [[/note]]

* RealitySubtext: John Bigalow, played by Alec Guinness, notes that despite fighting in both world wars and surviving numerous shipwrecks, all anyone ever asks him about is the ''Titanic''. Guinness himself used to complain that despite his long and distinguished acting career, all most people remembered him for was ''Franchise/StarWars''.

* DisownedAdaptation: Cussler so disliked the film adaptation [[NoAdaptationsAllowed that it would be over a quarter of a century]] before he allowed ''any'' of his novels, not merely the [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt series]], to be adapted for the big screen. The next adaptation, however, was ''Film/Sahara2005'', which he disliked even more, to the point where he urged fans to boycott the movie. It's fair to say we may be waiting a while for the next big screen adaptation of a Cussler novel, with no more being made up to his death in 2020 at age 88.

* TroubledProduction: This trope just seems to [[Film/ANightToRemember follow]] [[Film/Titanic1997 films]] about the ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' around, but unlike the others, this case of TroubledProduction claimed the film and ITC in the end:

* DisownedAdaptation: Cussler so disliked the film adaptation [[NoAdaptationsAllowed that it would be over a quarter of a century]] before he allowed ''any'' of his novels, not merely the [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt series]], to be adapted for the big screen. The next adaptation, however, was ''Film/Sahara2005'', which he disliked even more, to the point where he urged fans to boycott the movie. It's fair to say we may be waiting a while for the next big screen adaptation of a Cussler novel.

** This was also indirectly the reason the Muppets franchise stalled so badly in the ‘80s, as Grade has been their biggest champion for years, but the failure left him vulnerable to being bought out by a corporate raider who proceeded to completely gut the Jim Henson Company’s funding.

* CreatorKiller: The film wasn't the only flop producer Lew Grade had at the time, but it was the biggest, and its failure pretty much ended his career as a movie producer; the other one was [[Music/TheVillagePeople The Village People's]] ''Can't Stop the Music'', produced by EMI the record company, which had been trying to break into movie making much like Grade (to the point that they had formed a joint venture called Associated Film Distribution for American releasing); both the movies flopped so bad (in ''Music'''s case, because of the [[DeaderThanDisco anti-disco backlash]] taking place in the US at the time), Grade and EMI's film divisions, and by extension, AFD all sunk, with the remaining backlog of releases sold to Universal (who would, of course, acquire ITC's shell by the late 90s, while the EMI library, via Cannon, ended up with [=StudioCanal=], and hence Universal distributes those as well). This film also acted as the iceberg for the maiden voyage of director Jerry Jameson as far as tentpole films are concerned; he stayed on television for the rest of the 20th century and all future theatrical films directed by him have small budgets. [[note]] The next film based off a Cussler novel, ''[[Film/Sahara2005 Sahara]]'', would also be a CreatorKiller for that film's director, Breck Eisner (son of Michael Eisner, who was chief of Paramount when ''Raise the Titanic'' was released, moved to Disney just before the real ''Titanic'' was discovered, and left around ''Sahara's'' release; ''Sahara'' was distributed by Paramount), though he bounced back a bit. [[/note]]

* RealitySubtext: John Bigalow, played by Alec Guinness, notes that despite fighting in both world wars and surviving numerous shipwrecks, all anyone ever asks him about is the ''Titanic''. Guinness himself used to complain that despite his long and distinguished acting career, all most people remembered him for was ''Film/StarWars''.

* CreatorKiller: The film wasn't the only flop producer Lew Grade had at the time, but it was the biggest, and its failure pretty much ended his career as a movie producer; the other one was [[Music/TheVillagePeople The Village People's]] ''Can't Stop the Music'', produced by EMI the record company, which had been trying to break into movie making much like Grade (to the point that they had formed a joint venture called Associated Film Distribution for American releasing); both the movies flopped so bad (in ''Music'''s case, because of the [[DeaderThanDisco anti-disco backlash]] taking place in the US at the time), Grade and EMI's film divisions, and by extension, AFD all sunk, with the remaining backlog of releases sold to Universal (who would, of course, acquire ITC's shell by the late 90s, while the EMI library, via Cannon, ended up with [=StudioCanal=], and hence Universal distributes those as well). This film also acted as the iceberg for the maiden voyage of director Jerry Jameson as far as tentpole films are concerned; he stayed on television for the rest of the 20th century and all future theatrical films directed by him have small budgets. [[note]] The next film based off a Cussler novel, ''Sahara'', would also be a CreatorKiller for that film's director, Breck Eisner (son of Michael Eisner, who was chief of Paramount when ''Raise the Titanic'' was released, moved to Disney just before the real ''Titanic'' was discovered, and left around ''Sahara's'' release; ''Sahara'' was distributed by Paramount), though he bounced back a bit. [[/note]]

* DisownedAdaptation: Cussler so dislike the film adaptation [[NoAdaptationsAllowed that it would be over a quarter of a century]] before he allowed ''any'' of his novels, not merely the [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt series]], to be adapted for the big screen. The next adaptation, however, was ''Film/Sahara2005'', which he disliked even more, to the point where he urged fans to boycott the movie. It's fair to say we may be waiting a while for the next big screen adaptation of a Cussler novel.

* CreatorBacklash: Cussler, as seen on this page, has zero love for either this film or ''Sahara''

* FranchiseKiller:
** Cussler so [[CreatorBacklash disliked the result]] that it would be over a quarter of a century before he allowed ''any'' of his novels, not merely the [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt series]], to be adapted for the big screen. The next adaptation, however, was ''Film/{{Sahara 2005}}'', which he disliked even more, to the point where he urged fans to [[DisownedAdaptation boycott the movie]]. It's fair to say we may be waiting a while for the next big screen adaptation of a Cussler novel.
** ''Raise The Titanic'' was also the last film about the famous ship until Creator/JamesCameron came out with his smash hit in 1997.

* CreatorKiller: It wasn't the only flop he had at the time, but it was the biggest, and its failure pretty much ended Grade's career as a movie producer; the other one was [[Music/TheVillagePeople The Village People's]] ''Can't Stop the Music'', produced by EMI the record company, which had been trying to break into movie making much like Grade (to the point that they had formed a joint venture called Associated Film Distribution for American releasing); both the movies flopped so bad (in ''Music'''s case, because of the [[DeaderThanDisco anti-disco backlash]] taking place in the US at the time), Grade and EMI's film divisions, and by extension, AFD all sunk, with the remaining backlog of releases sold to Universal (who would, of course, acquire ITC's shell by the late 90s, while the EMI library, via Cannon, ended up with [=StudioCanal=], and hence Universal distributes those as well). This film also acted as the iceberg for the maiden voyage of director Jerry Jameson as far as tentpole films are concerned; he stayed on television for the rest of the 20th century and all future theatrical films directed by him have small budgets. [[note]] The next film based off a Cussler novel, ''Sahara'', would also be a CreatorKiller for that film's director, Breck Eisner (son of Michael Eisner, who was chief of Paramount when ''Raise the Titanic'' was released, moved to Disney just before the real ''Titanic'' was discovered, and left around ''Sahara's'' release; ''Sahara'' was distributed by Paramount), though he bounced back a bit. [[/note]]

* TroubledProduction: This trope just seems to [[Film/ANightToRemember follow]] [[Film/{{Titanic}} films]] about the ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' around, but unlike the others, this case of TroubledProduction claimed the film and ITC in the end:

* FranchiseKiller: Cussler so [[CreatorBacklash disliked the result]] that it would be over a quarter of a century before he allowed ''any'' of his novels, not merely the [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt series]], to be adapted for the big screen. The next adaptation, however, was ''Film/{{Sahara 2005}}'', which he disliked even more, to the point where he urged fans to [[DisownedAdaptation boycott the movie]]. It's fair to say we may be waiting a while for the next one. ''Raise The Titanic'' also became the last major fictional film based on the ship until James Cameron came out with his smash hit in 1997.
* PlayingGertrude: The then-54 year old Creator/AlecGuinness plays a surviving ''Titanic'' crew member, who would have been well into his 80s (at least) by then.

* PlayingGertrude: The then-54 year old Creator/AlecGuiness plays a surviving ''Titanic'' crew member, who would have been well into his 80s (at least) by then.